1) What is your favorite thing about your current job?
I'm gonna respond with several things, since I really do a lot of complaining about my job (people are stupid. OK! OK! Stopping with the complaining!)
a) Kids are fun to watch (when they're not screaming because their moms are too busy with their cell phones/blackberriesSORRY!).
b) I can get away with saying a lot of crazy stuff.
c) This one is actually the most important. I HAVE GOOD COFFEE AT MY WORK HAHAHAHAHA! AND IT'S FREE AND SOMETIMES I DON'T EVEN HAVE TO MAKE IT MYSELF HAHAHAHAHAHA!

2) What has everyone been reading recently?
Currently A Game of Thrones by George R.R. ("Tolkien is my Homeboy") Martin. Usually also a smattering of ChickLit. Because I like it. So there.

3) Traveling anywhere this summer?
Longville, Minnesota. By way of the Minneapolis area, where there is 1) my dad and stepmom (and cat) and 2) the Oakeshott Museum, one of the most important collections of historical arms and armor in the western hemisphere and 3) the Spam Museum. Try to guess which ones of those three were my idea. In Longville? Population 300? The 20th annual (yes, every year) week-long Williams Family Reunion: This year there's t-shirts. My husband loves me a LOT.

4) What's your favorite beverage when the weather is hot?
A homemade concoction I found a recipe for in Sundays at Moosewood: you steep fresh-grated ginger root in (water, obviously) sugar, cloves and cinnamon, strain it, add orange and lemon juice and chill. YUM. Or, for a quick fix, one part Trader Joe's Lemon Ginger Echinacea Drink and two parts Trader Joe's Green and White Tea. Also yum.

5) How do you feel about the use of the word "escribatological"?
Rock on.

Mary, I agree- there are plenty of "users" of this blog who are not updating. And I have been tempted to update recently, except that I have been responsible for 2 of the last 5 posts (with this one, 3 out of 6) [you will all be glad to know that I have restrained myself from creating Pie Charts of those last two pieces of data], which is a disproportionately high ratio.

To alleviate the escribatological constipation:
1) What is your favorite thing about your current job?
2) What has everyone been reading recently?
3) Traveling anywhere this summer?
4) What's your favorite beverage when the weather is hot?
5) How do you feel about the use of the word "escribatological"?

As for updating about myself- I graduated yesterday! With a master's degree and everything! Yeah! I got Very Sunburned. If you want pictures you'll have to undertake the incalculably difficult task of navigating from here over to the Nebiverse. (Pictures aren't up yet, but should be soon.) Also! Nate doesn't have a job yet!

Come on, people. Pretend you don't have a life, like me, and post something.

Neb

This is for all you coffee lovers. For an upcoming road trip I was thinking how nice it would be to have some bottles of Frappuccino to keep "the driver" awake. Any time I think about consuming (or providing) an expensive, commercially prepared comestible (and yes, that was the word that first came to mind), I immediately think: "Surely I could make that." So I googled a recipe over at Top Secret Recipes and came up with this. Doesn't that sound easy? The ninth comment, by "Pat," inspired me to use the unflavored gelatin in the back of my pantry instead of scrounging through the grocery store for the "right" kind of pectin (comment 8, Lori). So now we have . . . um, Frappuccino Pudding. Is anybody interested in the outcome of further culinary experiments on this particular comestible?
I don't like that I have two back-to-back posts. If this is the most exciting thing happening to any of us? How are the mighty fallen!

To save Dan Jordan's aching fingers:

Madelaine- internal view

Madelaine- external view:

Alright, now that I've posted pictures, Jordana has to, too.

Wes, stop lurking!!! I know you're there!

Anyone know where Dax is?

It's a beautiful day

To find out that we are having a

Girl :-)

Hmmm.... 4 days in the wilderness with Peter and family.... sounds like fun. Unfortunately now that I'm married there's not enough vacation time to spend with the Jordan and McCunn sides of my family let alone hang out with Peter. Sorry, I'm going to have to pass. Also I'm not in good enough shape to go 40 miles. Hiking up East Rock is about all I can manage these days (the rock alluded to in my last post, see the image above). It's about a 20 minute walk one way from our house to the top, but it gives a nice view of downtown New Haven and parts of Yale, so it's a nice "hike" when there's not enough time to do any real hike.

By the way, East Rock gets it's name from the fact that it is east of West Rock. The settlers of the New Haven area weren't very original with naming towns and places, which is why if you go north from New Haven you reach North Haven, if you go east you go to East Haven, and if you go west you end up in West Haven. Just below East Rock is the East Rock neighborhood (what else would it be called?) aka the "Grad Student Ghetto" because grad students (and the Jordans) live there in comfortable apartments. Just one more bad name choice in New Haven.

Open invitation to anyone who wants to go backpacking in June: my uncle & I and a couple couple of other people are planning to hike part of the AT in Southwestern VA--from Mount Rogers into Damascus. The distance is 41 miles plus or minus; we'll probably take 4 to 5 days. No, we haven't fixed on a firm date yet; probably we'd start on a Thursday or Friday of whatever week. Anyways, all of us who are going right now will be driving up from Knoxville (about 2 hours away) in some way, shape, or form, and we all carry enough trail mix to satisfy even the most desperate of chocolate cravings.

Mount Rogers is the most beautiful part of the Appalachians that I know of. The trail gentle slopes across open meadows and weaves through rock outcroppings. Though it's several thousand feet too low, the whole place has an alpine feel. There are also herds of wild horses (or ponies, since they're all shorter than me) which come skittishly begging for food. And since we're hiking down from there, it shouldn't be all that difficult of a walk.

Happy Birthday, Jordana!

(Sorry I don't wish everyone a happy birthday when appropriate. This is the only birthday I remember, as it is also the Death Day of my beloved appendix. And I'm just not intent on removing any other internal organs to aid my memory.)

Hi Everybody!!! Dan Jordan in the hizzouse. I haven't heard from most of you in a long, long time and no doubt many of you lie awake at night thinking "What are Dan and his lovely wife Laura doing these days?" Well, prepare to have a good night sleep because 1) your question will be answered and 2) the answer is pretty dull. Laura is a postdoc at Yale (or is a postdoc at Yale, I'm not sure if "postdoc" describes the position or the person). I am in the secondary-ticket market (or "scalping") business. I am a "marketing analyst" (I got to pick my own job title! I decided to keep a modest one instead of "Senior VP of Coolness" because that's the sort of guy I am--modest) at a company that sells concert, theatre, and sports tickets online (check out the website I manage BuyBetterTickets.com). We're living in an apartment which is actually the third floor of an old house--it's pretty sweet. We like the New Haven area; we live near a big rock (it's nicer than it sounds; I'll put up some pictures some time). If anyone is ever in the area and needs a place to stay we have a second bedroom and we'd love to see any of you (even Wes!) so please stop by. I'm looking forward to checking out everyone else's posts and maybe even responding to Laura's torture question

Does using a microwave (to cook food) leach food of its nutrients?

This is a question that has been batted around by my coworkers on and off for years. Some customers say yes. Then again, other customers say that we're supposed to eat to balance our pH, or according to our blood type, that eggs are evil and we shouldn't sell them, that High Fructose Corn Syrup can kill you (not "it's bad for you," no, it can kill you), that the laser scanners at our registers zap the "energy" out of food ... so we don't know what to think.

Some of you out there, however, might posess the kind of educational background to actually give an informed answer.

just so everyone knows...


here's my blog:
http://elykkyle.blogspot.com

So who needs a new invite? Let me know in the comment section, and maybe, just maybe, I'll reinvite you. If you're cool enough.

begin excerpt from Mary's journal:
Last night I mixed 12 pounds of plain baking soda with 2 pounds of Arm & Hammer "Pet Fresh" Carpet and Room Deodorizer. I coated the living room floor and poured it liberally all down the hall (which smelled like a litter box even after shampooing the carpets twice). This morning after some "help" vacuuming it up, I did think it smelled better. The smell lingers mostly near the linen closet and bathroom. Pouring baking soda all over the floor created "dust" on all the furniture and now my glider rocker has a different "gritty" squeak. ("") But worse than that, the "freshness" makes all the bedrooms (which before smelled fine to me) smell stale, and it even seems that Suzan's smells of wet dog.

Last week we closed on a very nice house in the suburbs. I know that sounds like an oxymoron, but it isn't as bad as it sounds. People in our neighborhood go for walks (saying "hi" as they pass) and kids playing in their front yards spill out into the street. There are no neighbors behind us, rather an open field that is used by the nearby roundup club for pasturing cattle for their rodeos. Our house is large and open with a patio facing west. The back yard has room for a small garden and a small girl to run around flapping her arms "like a bird." We found the house rather unexpectedly at the end of some bad winter weather (which had discouraged other home shoppers). The owners were being transferred to Kansas City so we had a slight advantage over them I think. They took with them some things we expected them to take: their pets, some curtains and a black ceiling fan. They took some things we did not expect: the refrigerator, the washer, dryer and a magnolia from the front yard. The appliances were theirs by contract; apparently I cannot read properly. They did not reserve the magnolia. A magnolia? They were moving into temporary housing!

In spite of the lingering pet smells (growl, hiss, moan, sob, rage) and the added expense of appliances, I think we will be very happy here. It feels like home already.

The last couple weeks have been busy here. My mom and sister and I made a trip out to Kansas to visit my grandparents on the occasion of my grandfather's 90th birthday (Grandma's almost 94!). It was great to have almost a week with them in their home nearly a year and a half since our last visit. Amazingly, they're still keeping up a house, driving, walking a mile or two a day, playing scrabble, dominoes, or freecell every day, leading a Bible study, and traveling. Since we drove out, we also had fun exploring Lawrence, Kansas (there's a very nicely done coffeeshop/art gallery/book store there...Christian-run with art by a couple Wheaton/Chicago artists); and we had the chance to visit with my aunt and uncle in St. Louis. They live in an 120-something-year-old house that they've redone and have all sorts of interests and humor to share with us. AND I had a couple hours to catch up with Andrea, which was fun after four (?!) years. Thanks again, Andrea!

My most recent work has been lettering a trail of "inspiring" words along a middle school's hallways out in West Knoxville. They wanted specific fonts for the different words and phrases, so I spent a lot of time at the copier enlarging the letters [to about 16" high] so that I could trace them up on the walls. Then the fun began...standing on a ladder for hours trying to trace onto slick concrete block walls (almost impossible) with hordes of middleschoolers going every-which-a-way below. (Middle schoolers make some really weird comments...not to mention the different conversations I overheard--students and teachers--since I was apparently invisible on the ladder.) Now the kids have the job of painting all the letters in...hopefully more carefully than they have yet.

This next week is our church's missions conference, which pretty much means an event/meeting or two every day; lots of busyness, but we always look forward to it. Eva's also waiting to hear about grad assistantships at UT and hoping the outcome will help her decide whether to pursue a masters in piano or not. If she opts not to go the grad school route, the two of us are considering applying for a work holiday visa to New Zealand for 2008.

Daffodils still blooming after a month and a half. I hope the rest of you are finally getting some spring-like weather! Anybody celebrating Dr. Seuss' birthday today? You might try On Beyond Zebra.

HAPPY SAINT DAVID'S DAY!!!

I suppose it is time for me to write something a bit more on this blog. So first, an update. Still living in Eugene, I am just finishing my 8th month of living in an apartment by myself. To my surprise I found that I love it, always having preferred books to people anyway. : ) I am in my fifth year of physics grad school now and there may actually be an end in sight--I would like to finish by December 07. By the way, I would like all of you to know that if I do make that deadline, I plan to buy a greyhound or amtrak pass and traverse the country visiting as many of you as possible. Maybe I will finally get to meet Suzan (whose picture is on my fridge along with Lucille Ann) and enjoy the Smoky Mountains with Hannah. (Oh yes, I did also want to say, Hannah, that that bag you posted on the blog was delightful. And some day I want to compare New Zealand pictures with you. I think New Zealand is my new image of the garden of Eden. No large predators. Only one poisonous creature and I never met it. Delightful birds. And breathtaking scenery.)

So besides working on my research (climate change--looking at trends in sunlight measurements in Oregon to examine changes in the atmosphere), I spend a lot of time with church stuff. I'm back at the church I grew up in--like going home. I just became the moderator, sort of a head deacon, and am now trying to figure out how to be responsible for church finances, visioning, insurance policies, and spiritual growth among other things. It is sort of an overwhelming and exciting place for me. I feel perhaps the first weight of adult responsibility that I have experienced, and my poor sleeping has been evidence of it. But I also feel a deep sense of belonging and awe which means the world to me. Some days I walk into church with a tenderness for the people I see there that almost makes me want to cry. I had no idea people were so precious. And I try not to take it personally when people complain to me about stuff like the time the service starts. Is that sort of what it feels like to be a parent? What a gift. There are a handful of people at that church who have become incredible mentors and teachers to me. Because of their guidance and encouragement I have tried preaching a sermon, teaching Sunday School, and started asking questions like Am I living the gospel? more frequently than I ask questions like Does God exist?

And finally, the pirate report. My most recent adventures on the high seas came over New Year's when Lisa and I planned a Pirate Party and invited family friends. It is hard to convey the sheer brilliance of the event, but it included some fabulous food, decorations, costumes, and activities. One of the activities was a pirate translation of Psalm 1, following for your enjoyment. (Pictures show the event coordinators Long John Laura and Cap'n Tar-Tar.)

'Palm' 1

1 Booty to the pirate! who does not consort with landlubbers or sail in the wake of Davy Jones or call for Parley.
2 But his eyes are filled with the gold of the treasure and over the treasure map he navigates day and night.
3 He is like a ship sailing on smooth waters, with prevailing winds and rich helpless victims everywhere he sails.
4 Aye, the scurvy-scalawags that break the pirate code! they be like the coconuts that blow in the Caribbean fierce hurricane gales.
5 Aye, those who do not lash themselves to the mast, surely will be washed overboard and those found unfit to fly the Pirate flag will be sentenced to swing at noon from the yardarm.
6 For the great CAP'N surely charts the course with fair winds and calm seas and great plunder. But to those traitors, they will be keelhauled and find themselves banished to Davy Jones' locker forever!
Arrgh-men!!

A 'Pirates with the Pens' Translation (PPT)

Well, I remembered my password so here I am blogging about nothing. But! I am finally contributing to the "oooh" factor of the blog with pictures of our beautiful child. This morning before we could do anything else, she wanted to "play the jewelry game" which she created. When asked how it was played she said, "We hold up the jewelry and say 'oooh.'" Apparently we also put it all on. Since I own about 5 pieces of modest jewelry, I really don't understand the inspiration for this game unless it comes from the few times she's been window shopping with me in the mall. Oops! We recently purchased a Canon Powershot SD 600, so that is why you are able to view a picture I took this very morning! It is nifty.

I was planning on posting a nice update a couple of weeks ago, but what with the blogger change I couldn't remember my password. And I don't have a ton of time right now. So here is the short version: We are trying to buy a house. We are attending a mega church. (I love mentioning that because it still surprises me.) We are experiencing an unusually cold/nasty winter (which we get blamed for too!). I am working 4-8 hours a weekend for Hallmark. Mr. C. (as my family likes to call him) is working a normal 8-5 good computer job. We live in the city. The largest city in the state, which - I might add - I had not realized was so big. But it is okay. We are doing something called homeschooling, which at this point most people would just call brainwashing since the pupil isn't even three. It is basically just implementing a little bit more structure to our daily activities. I introduce a letter and number each week, we color a lot and do crafts. And we are memorizing a verse and catechism each week. Oh dear, I think I heard most of you fall off your chairs. But, when you consider the alternatives, it really doesn't seem all that extreme, does it?

So what are you guys really up to? I know where some/most of you are, but not what you are doing. Andrea W., Laura, Airika?

Hi all! I'm sitting at my desk at work right now, pondering the morality of wasting time while I'm getting paid. Does anyone ever have those days where you feel as if you can't do anything at all? I like to call it a work cramp. Thankfully, I have a job in which I can do things like read childrens books on those days, and it's perfectly acceptable.

I hope that everyone is celebrating Groundhogs Day in the appropriate fashion, which of course means planning on sleeping for four weeks straight (wouldn't that be nice?).

Yesterday I had my first major program flop in four months. At least I felt like it was a flop. The kids might have actually enjoyed it. I showed up at the branch and discovered that instead of being in the meeting room, I would have to conduct the program in the main library area. It doesn't seem too intimidating in type, but trust me, singing preschool songs at the top of your lungs in the library has all the ear-marks of a nightmare (thankfully, I realized that I was fully clothed, so I must be awake). So anyway, I prepared the for the program and only one girl and one boy showed up. Their parents, of course, left them alone with me while they proceeded to check their e-mail and read the paper. To make a long story short, by the middle of the program, I had both children covering their ears and grimacing while I sang the songs. The girl was actually whimpering. It must have been an off vocal day for me, because I've never gotten that kind of reaction before. Maybe they were just sitting a little too close to my powerful pipes! I didn't know whether to laugh or cry, quite frankly. I guess I needed a pride check.

Anyway, I hope all is well with everyone!